Ladji Doucouré

Ladji Doucouré

Doucouré at the 2006 Meeting Gaz de France
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1983-03-28) 28 March 1983 Juvisy-sur-Orge, department of Essonne in France
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Sport	hurdling and sprinting
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	110m hurdles (outdoor): 12.97 s (Angers, 2005)(+1.0) 60m hurdles (indoor): 7.42 s (Liévin, 2005)
Medal record Men’s athletics Representing France World Championships 2005 Helsinki 110 m hurdles 2005 Helsinki 4x100 m relay European Indoor Championships 2005 Madrid 60 m hurdles 2009 Turin 60 m hurdles Jeux de la Francophonie 2013 Nice 110 m hurdles World Junior Championships 2000 Santiago 4x100 m relay 2000 Santiago 110 m hurdles World Youth Championships 1999 Bydgoszcz 110 m hurdles European U23 Championships 2003 Bydgoszcz 110 m hurdles European Junior Championships 2001 Grosseto 4x100 m relay

Ladji Doucouré (born 28 March 1983 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, department of Essonne in France) is a French track and field athlete.

Biography

Ladji Doucouré's father and mother was Malian and Senegalese respectively. Ladji Doucouré was a football player and decathlete before specializing in hurdling and sprinting.

Doucouré finished fourth in the 60 m hurdles final at the 2003 World Indoor Championships. He was eliminated in the 110m hurdles semi-finals of the 2003 World Championships, his debut appearance in a World Championships. Doucouré competed in only one event – the 110 m hurdles – at the 2004 Olympics, his first Olympic Games. He had the fastest time among all the competitors in each of the first two rounds and in the semi-finals. But he finished eighth and last in the final in a time of 13.76 s; he was actually in second place before clipping the last hurdle.

Doucouré won the 60 m hurdles gold medal at the 2005 European Indoor Championships, his first European Championships, Olympic Games or World Championships medal at the senior level. At the French Athletics Outdoor Championships held in Angers on 15 July 2005, Doucouré won the 110m hurdles for the second consecutive year in a time of 12.97 s, setting a new national outdoor record and becoming he first French athlete to go under 13 seconds in that event. It was the world's best performance that year. At the 2005 World Championships, Doucouré won the 110m hurdles gold medal in a time of 13:07 s, beating 2004 Olympic Champion Liu Xiang by one hundredth of a second and veteran Allen Johnson by three hundredths of a second. He (together with Ronald Pognon, Eddy De Lépine and Lueyi Dovy) also won the gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay event at the same championships. He was named the 2005 L'Équipe Champion of Champions(France category) for his outstanding performance on the track that year.

Doucouré with his gold medal from Turin

Doucouré was eliminated in the 110m hurdles semi-finals of the 2007 World Championships. Doucouré finished fourth in the final of the 110 m hurdles (his only event) at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The following year, he started strongly by winning the 60 m hurdles gold medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. At the 2012 Olympics in London, he finished last in his semi-final heat of the 110m hurdles – the only event that he entered – and thus did not qualify for the final.

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External links

• Ladji Doucouré at Sports Reference
• IAAF profile of Ladji Doucouré
• Media related to Ladji Doucouré at Wikimedia Commons